News for the Hospitality Executive |
31st
January 2013 - HotelSwaps, a new innovative
hotel staff retention and incentive
programme, has launched today at www.hotelswaps.com.
HotelSwaps is a worldwide membership network which allows hotel owners
and
managers to exchange their unused hotel rooms with other hotel members
around
the world for staff reward, incentive and training purposes. Hotels
will
deposit room nights during periods of their choice in exchange for
points.
These points can be transferred to high-performing employees who can in
turn
exchange these for free hotel stays at other member hotels.
HotelSwaps has been created to make the most of the huge inventory of unused hotel rooms (over 700 million room nights were left unoccupied in the European Union alone in 2009[1]) in order to help hoteliers better reward their staff. Recruitment and employee retention has long been a major issue for hotel owners. It is estimated that the average annual cost of staff turnover in a hotel of 100 employees in the US[2][3] is over USD 600,000 and 70% of hotel General Managers world-wide believe that Human Resources is the most challenging issue for the industry[4]. HotelSwaps
gives hotel owners an inexpensive, yet high-value, way to reward,
incentivise
and train staff from across their organisation. The great advantage of
the
programme is its flexibility, allowing owners to send their management
team on
training breaks to experience other similar hotels, or to reward key
staff for
long service with a week’s family holiday.
HotelSwaps has identified four key areas where hoteliers can benefit from the programme:
Once a member, a
hotel can start depositing rooms, in return for points. Points are
valued based
on the seasonality and quality of the hotel to ensure a fair exchange
between
hotel members. Deposited rooms are held in an online inventory pool
from which hotel
employees, who have been rewarded with points, can make their
reservations.
“I am thrilled to be launching HotelSwaps at the start of 2013,” comments Preben Vestdam, Managing Director of HotelSwaps, “and I am delighted to be offering a tool to hoteliers which will help them improve the hotel industry as a great place to work. HotelSwaps has been a year in the making to ensure we not only have robust points exchange system but also have the right solution to help hotel managers better look after their staff at a very low cost.” “Staff retention, as we know, is one of the main challenges of the hotel industry. So much money is lost in recruitment and training of employees who then move on. It is vital that the industry works out how to incentivise and retain staff in an affordable way and I am confident that HotelSwaps is an effective solution to this issue.” “Not only can HotelSwaps be built into training and incentive programmes, but it also has spin off benefits such as additional revenues, qualitative feedback and sharing of best practices. We look forward to affiliating many quality hotels to the programme and seeing HotelSwaps become a key partner to the hospitality industry for years to come.” The
HotelSwaps System:
The Hotel: Step
One – Apply Online: Hotels
provide key information about their property, which HotelSwaps will
review
before approving membership. As a part of the affiliation process, the
hotel
will deposit 21 room nights (3 weeks) to obtain their first points.
Step Two – Earn Points: Hotels earn additional points by depositing room nights for use by other HotelSwaps members. The points value of room nights is determined by the season and quality of the hotel. Room nights are deposited in weekly intervals from Monday to Monday. Step Three – Issue Points: Hotel owners and managers can issue HotelSwaps points from their hotel to whomever they like. They can reward their employees, develop staff training programs or even take a well-deserved break themselves. The Guest: Step
One – Check Availability: Guests, who
receives points from a hotel, can book a reservation from any of the
available
rooms deposited by other hotel members.
_________________________Step Two – Book a Stay: Guests make reservations just like they would do with any online travel agent, but Guests use their points as “payment”. In case the desired period is not immediately available, the Guest can log a reservations request straight to their preferred hotel, which in turn has the option to accept or decline the request. Step Three - Provide Feedback: Guests are requested to provide feedback following their stay, allowing the hotel to receive constructive and confidential advice from fellow hoteliers. [1] Eurostat (2011). Europe in figures – Eurostat yearbook 2011. [2] Cornell (2006). The cost of employee turnover: when the devil is in the details. Average cost of employee turnover in the US per employee equals USD 12,136 for a managerial role. [3] Tourism & Transport Forum Australia (2006). Labour turnover & costs in the Australian accommodation industry. Research by Griffith University. [4] Cornell (2009). Key issues of concern in the lodging industry: what worries managers. Cornell Hospitality Report. Based on a survey conducted among 243 managers from six regions in the world in both general manager and executive positions. _________________________ For further information, contact: Alkis Valentin – email [email protected] – phone +44 20 3239 3924. About HotelSwaps and Valhalla Associates: HotelSwaps (www.hotelswaps.com) is owned and operated by Valhalla Associates (www.valhallaassociates.com), a limited liability company incorporated in United Kingdom and service provider to the hotel and resort industry. |
Contact: Alkis Valentin email: [email protected] phone: +44 20 3239 3924. |